The counter sat near the entrance, a small display case showing off desserts and drinks behind the glass. A few customers were already waiting.
Clara stood first. "Come on."
Eris picked up her bag. "You seem more excited about the food than the party."
"Food is part of the party."
"I suppose."
They walked up together. An attendant behind the counter smiled. "Good afternoon. What would you like?"
Eris glanced at Clara before answering. "One Mapo Tofu with Rice, one Chicken Katsu Don, and two Signature Maccha Cream Lattes."
He repeated it back to confirm, then nodded. "That'll be ready in about ten minutes."
"Thank you," Clara said.
They returned to their table. Clara immediately looked toward the lounge again.
"We should ask about that."
"Definitely."
"Do you think they'll let us use the instruments?"
"I don't know."
"That piano looked nice."
"You've been staring at it since we walked in."
"Because it's nice."
Eris rested her chin on her hand. "Let's wait for Tyler before we decide anything."
"Right."
A few seconds of silence. Then Clara stiffened.
"Oh no."
"What?"
"Did we tell Tyler the location of this place?"
Eris stared at her. The question landed harder than Clara meant it to. She'd already been circling the same thought herself: if Tyler had somehow known the name Maccha Café before anyone had picked a location, maybe he already knew where it was too.
She wasn't about to say that out loud.
"Isn't that your job?" she said instead.
Clara blinked. "What?"
"You're the one Aaron gave directions to."
"Wait, that's not fair."
"You were supposed to tell him."
"When? You told me after school already ended!"
"Yes."
"So when exactly was I supposed to talk to him? Especially after you dragged me out of class because you were getting embarrassed."
Eris's cheeks went red. "It was not like that."
"Really?"
"Yes."
"Then why'd you drag me out?"
"I was trying to explain something."
"While dragging me out of class."
"I didn't want to explain it there."
"Because you were embarrassed."
"It wasn't like that," Eris said, a little too fast. "How was I supposed to know the speech was happening in the boys' changing room? I said that casually."
"And because of that casually, I never got a chance to tell Tyler."
Eris sighed. "Fine."
Clara crossed her arms. "So what now?"
Eris glanced at the entrance, then back at Clara. "It's okay. He probably knows the location."
"Probably?"
The word was out before Eris could stop it.
"I mean..."
Clara leaned in. "You sound suspicious."
"I'm not suspicious."
"You are."
"I'm not."
"Then why'd you say probably?"
Eris looked away. "Because..."
She stopped there. Her mind kept circling the same loop it had been stuck on since they'd walked in. Tyler had known the cafe name before anyone chose it, and now they were sitting inside it. That was either a coincidence, or Tyler can predict future?
It has to be a coincidence, she told herself, and left it at that.
"Don't worry," she said. "He'll come."
"Are you sure?"
"Umm."
"That doesn't sound very confident."
Eris grabbed the menu like it owed her money. "Let's order something for him."
"For Tyler?"
"Yes." She scanned the quick bites. "He skipped lunch because of me. We should get him something."
"Something small?"
"A quick bite. He can eat this while he decides what he actually wants." She tapped the page. "Karaage. Or gyoza."
Clara checked the prices. "Easy to eat while talking."
"Exactly."
"If that's what you want."
"Yes."
"Then we'll order for him."
Eris let out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding. "Good." She looked back down at the menu, doing an excellent impression of someone reading it.
Her eyes drifted to the entrance.
Still no Tyler.
She checked the clock. Looked back at the menu. A minute passed. She checked the clock again.
"You really are waiting for him," Clara said.
"He's late."
"He's a few minutes late."
"I know."
The café had filled in a little since they'd arrived, more customers by the windows, more noise, none of it unpleasant. Eris kept glancing at the door anyway. Clara noticed, and this time didn't say anything about it.
An attendant arrived with two trays. "Here are your orders." He set the Mapo Tofu in front of Clara, the Chicken Katsu Don in front of Eris, and the two maccha lattes between them.
"Thank you," Eris said.
"Let me know if you need anything."
She glanced at the menu still on the table. "Actually, one Gyoza as well."
Clara looked at her. A smile started.
"Don't," Eris said.
"I didn't say anything."
"You didn't have to."
The attendant nodded and left. Clara looked down at her food. The tofu sat under a reddish sauce with minced meat scattered through it and a thin sheen of chili oil, which had looked significantly less threatening in the menu photo.
She picked up her chopsticks. "All right."
She went for a piece of tofu. It slipped. She tried again, got it up about two centimeters, and lost it.
"These things are defective."
"They're chopsticks."
"They're refusing to cooperate."
"You're supposed to control them."
"I am controlling them." The chopsticks splayed open at an angle no chopsticks should be able to reach. "Mostly."
Eris covered her mouth with one hand.
"Don't laugh."
"I'm not."
"You are."
"I'm really not."
Clara narrowed her eyes and tried again. This time she got a piece up, actually up, and her whole face lit with triumph.
"I got it."
The tofu dropped back onto the plate.
Eris lost the fight and laughed.
"What's funny?"
"You looked so proud."
"I had it."
"For half a second."
"Still progress."
She tried twice more, lost both times, and finally set the chopsticks down with the dignity of someone retiring from a sport. "Well." She reached for the spoon. "At least I tried the traditional way. You didn't even bother."
"I tried. It's not easy."
"You gave up that easily?"
Eris picked up her fork. "We're not in Sanxia. And those things hate me specifically."
"Can't argue with that."
Clara took her first spoonful. Her expression held steady for about two seconds. Then her eyes went wide.
"It's..." She reached for her drink.
"Yes?"
"It's good."
"Of course."
She took a sip of maccha. "It's just."
"Spicy?"
"No." A beat. "A little."
"A little?"
"Very little."
Eris smirked and said nothing, because she didn't need to. Clara had already switched to careful half spoonful's.
"You could just admit it's too spicy."
"It's not too spicy."
"You've stopped taking full spoonful's."
"I'm appreciating the flavor."
"You're protecting your tongue."
"Those can be the same thing."
Eris laughed and turned to her own plate. The katsu was crisp outside, tender underneath, coated in a sauce that lived up to the menu description.
"How is it?"
"Pretty decent."
"Only decent?"
"You're the one who said it looked good."
"I wanted to know if it actually was."
"It is."
"Good."
The bell above the door rang. Eris's head turned before she could stop it. Clara noticed and didn't need to ask why.
Tyler stood just inside the entrance, glancing around like he wasn't fully convinced he'd found the right place. An attendant approached him. Whatever Tyler said, it ended with him pointing toward their table, and the attendant nodding and gesturing him over.
He walked up and stopped beside them. "Looks like I'm in the right place."
"Sorry," Clara said, wincing. "I forgot to give you directions before I left."
"Don't mind silly things." He pulled out the chair beside Eris and sat. "I asked at the pharmacy across the street. They pointed me here."
Eris turned slowly toward Clara. Clara looked back. Neither said anything. Both cleared their throats at the exact same moment, which somehow made it worse.
Tyler looked between them. "Are you two okay?"
"Yes," Eris said, too fast.
"Perfectly fine," Clara said, faster.
They cleared their throats again.
Tyler frowned.
Eris moved on before it got any stranger.
"Anyway, you see the lounge behind you?"
He didn't turn around. Didn't so much as glance. Just the thought of looking at it pulled something tight in his chest.
He remembered this place. Another version of him standing in front of the entire class, humiliating himself over Clara. The laughter. The years he'd spent trying not to think about it.
He took a slow breath. "That's a good spot to hang out."
Eris studied his face. "You sure?"
"Yeah."
"True," Clara said. "We could hold the party here."
Tyler let himself glance at the lounge from the corner of his eye, careful not to linger. "Probably. If it fits the budget, then definitely." He looked at the table. "What are you two having?"
Eris pointed with her spoon. "Chicken Katsu Don." Then at Clara's plate. "She went with the spicy one."
"Mapo Tofu?" Tyler looked at the sauce. "That looks spicy."
Clara lifted her chin. "It's fine."
Tyler reached over and picked up the chopsticks.
Clara and Eris both stared at him.
"Do you even know how to use those?"
He didn't answer. He used them to lift a slice of chicken off Eris's plate, put it in his mouth, and chewed like a man reviewing a restaurant.
"You've come to a Sanxian café," he said. "It's basic courtesy to eat the food the way it's meant to be eaten."
He nodded slowly. "Pretty good."
Clara looked at Eris. Eris looked at Clara. Both cleared their throats again.
Tyler stopped chewing. "Are you two having post-nasal drip?"
"Ewww," Clara said.
Eris set down her spoon. "Tyler. We're eating."
"What? I'm just saying, you both keep clearing your throats."
"We're fine."
"Definitely fine."
Tyler looked deeply unconvinced, but before he could push it, the attendant returned with a small plate and set it in front of Eris. "Here you are."
"Thank you."
Tyler eyed it. "Is that for me?"
"Eris ordered it," Clara said, before Eris could stop her.
Eris picked her spoon back up. "It takes time to prepare and you were already late. We don't have all day."
"You're so rude, Eris."
"That's definitely me." She slid the spare menu across the table. "Order something before we finish eating without you."
He picked it up. "All right."
For the first time since walking into the café, Eris let her shoulders drop. She looked back at her food. Across the table, Clara took another bite of tofu and immediately reached for her drink.
Eris smiled.
"Don't," Clara said.
"I didn't say anything."
"You were about to."
"I wasn't."
"You were."
Tyler lowered the menu an inch. "What are you two talking about?"
"Nothing," they said together, in perfect unison, which was somehow the least convincing answer either of them had given all day.
He lowered the menu fully. "You're both acting strange."
Eris took another bite. "Eat your gyoza."
He looked at the plate, then at her. "You're definitely rude."
"Eat."
"Yes, ma'am."
Tyler looked over the menu while working through the gyoza Eris had ordered for him.
"This place has a ridiculous number of choices."
Clara leaned forward. "I know. That's what we were just talking about."
He flipped through the pages. "Spicy dishes, quick bites, mains, desserts, drinks." He paused at the café specials. "And all these maccha drinks too."
"That's why I think everyone will like it."
He nodded, still reading. "It might also become a problem."
"Problem?"
"Look at how much everything costs."
Eris caught it immediately. "If everyone orders whatever they want, the average per student gets expensive fast."
"Exactly." Tyler turned the menu around so both girls could see it. "Thirty students doesn't sound like much until every person orders two or three things."
Clara looked at the prices again and nodded slowly. "That's true."
"One main, one drink, one dessert, and we're already at a fairly large number per person."
"And some people will order more than that," Eris said.
Clara sighed. "I can already picture Chris ordering enough for three people."
"You're assuming he stops at three."
Eris laughed. "Fair."
Tyler tapped the menu. "So instead of letting everyone order whatever they want, why don't we pick a few dishes ahead of time? A spicy option, one or two mains, something small, dessert, drinks. Enough variety that everyone finds something."
"Then we'd know exactly what we're paying for," Eris said.
"And if we order in bulk, there's a decent chance we can negotiate a discount."
Clara's eyes lit up. "That's actually a really good idea."
"It's just common sense."
"No, that's smart."
Eris nodded. "A fixed menu makes budgeting a lot easier."
"And everyone gets to try different things instead of just ordering for themselves," Clara added.
"Exactly."
Clara was already turning toward the counter. "Excuse me!"
An attendant looked over. Clara raised a hand. "We'd like to ask about reserving the lounge."
"Of course. I'll call the owner, she handles group bookings." The attendant gave a small nod and headed off.
Clara watched her go. "That was easier than I expected."
"Now we just need the price to be reasonable," Eris said.
"And whether they'll let us touch the instruments," Tyler added, reaching for another gyoza.
"And whether we get the bulk discount," Clara said.
Eris glanced at him. "You've already started negotiating."
"I haven't negotiated anything."
"You're thinking about it."
"That's different."
Clara laughed, and they kept eating while they waited.